An Outrun Game Is About To Be Terminated

The upcoming release of a Ferrari-branded game on the PlayStation Network, combined with the expiration of Sega’s licensing deal with the Italian car manufacturer, means Outrun Online Arcade just became an Xbox 360 exclusive.

This licensing deal deal is the key to the game’s disappearance, as the latest Outrun game featured several authentic Ferrari cars; lose the licence for those cars – as Outrun has – and you lose the licence to sell the game.

Which is exactly what’s happened. A new game called Ferrari: The Race Experience was released on the European PlayStation Network last week, and ever since, the PS3 version of OutRun Online Arcade has been unavailable for purchase. If you’ve got it, you can still play it, but if you don’t have it, well… unlucky.

So it’s an Xbox 360 exclusive! Well, not really. The Xbox 360′s exclusivity is temporary, with that version scheduled to be removed from Xbox Live Arcade in December 2011. After which, the game will just be… gone.

Which is a damn shame, as I loved it. Blue skies, fast cars, big drifts… it’s a fantastic racer. Or should I say, was a fantastic racer.

End Of Ferrari Deal Pulls Sega’s OutRun Online Arcade From XBLA, PSN [Gamasutra]